Finland, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia used to be russian colonies.
However, they were able to escape infamous "russian world" and russian "sphere on influence".
Those countries joined EU and NATO.
As of 2023 here is some data that easy to understand.
| Country | GDP per capita | Times vs russia |
| Estonia | 29,823.7 | 2.15847868567706 |
| Finland | 53,755.9 | 3.89056235072736 |
| Latvia | 23,184.3 | 1.67795469349352 |
| Lithuania | 27,102.8 | 1.96155460664399 |
| Poland | 22,112.9 | 1.60041253528262 |
| russia | 13,817.0 | 1 |
We see that all former russian colonies that joined EU and NATO has way higher GDP per capital. Finland's one is 3.9x larger than russian one.
Keep in mind that those countries achieved that without "free" money that came with vast natural resources of russia. They achieved it by building healthy economies.
See for yourself at WorldBank.